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The Danish Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) won with authority this Saturday ahead of the New Zealander George Bennett (Jumbo Visma) and the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) in the 114 edition of Il Lombardía, with a route of 231 kilometers between Bergamo and Como.
Fuglsang, 35, gave the decisive attack 6.5 kilometers from the end, on the climb to San Fermo de la Battaglia, and finished the test in 5 hours, 32 minutes and 54 seconds, which allowed him to add to his record the second Monument test of his career, after the Lieges in 2019.
The race was marked by the serious accident suffered by the young Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Deceunick Quick Step), who fell into a five-meter ravine located in the descent of Sormano and who was immediately taken to the Como hospital.
This year’s test, the second classic Monument of the year, was opened in Bergamo, one of the cities most affected by the pandemic in Italy, with a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the coronavirus.
It preceded the beginning of a demanding race, contested under more than 30 degrees, in which illustrious participants appeared, with elements of experience such as the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (Ineos), current champion of the Giro d’Italia, Vincenzo Nibali (Trek Segafredo), double champion of Il Lombardía, Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo), current champion, or Bennett, recent winner in Great Piedmont.
There were eleven runners who launched the first break of the day, but the group controlled without difficulties and canceled their margin, which exceeded 4 minutes, with 65 kilometers to go when the key section of the race opened, with the iconic climbs to Colma de Sormano and Muro de Sormano, with 2 kilometers with a 15% slope, and to Civiglio.
The great favorites of the day before arrived at the front of the Sormano Wall, with Nibali, Mollema, Carapaz, Rafal Majka, Van Der Poel or Evenepoel, but on the way down there were moments of fear when the last mentioned suffered a serious accident when falling into the void from a bridge.
The young Belgian runner of the Deceunick Quick Step team suffered a fall of several meters and was immediately rescued by an ambulance, which took him to the Como hospital.
At the head of the race, a group with Nibali, Giulio Ciccone, Mollema, Bennett, Russian Aleksandar Vlasov (Astana), Bennett and Fuglsang took advantage of the group on the climb to Civiglio.
Fuglsang, Vlasov and Bennett led the test, pursued by Ciccone and Mollema, about ten seconds away, while Nibali, annoyed by cramps, was losing meters and saying goodbye to his options.
The last climb was missing, to San Fermo de la Battaglia, with slopes of 7%. Bennett exchanged attacks with Fuglsang, while Vlasov began to pay for the waste of energy made after 225 kilometers on his legs.
Fuglsang controlled Bennett’s timid attempts and struck him down with authority 4 miles from the end with an attack that gave the New Zealander no options.
He reached the finish line in Como 31 seconds ahead of Bennett and raised his arms to the sky to celebrate the 26th victory of his cycling career.
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